Partnership Hopes to Lure Private Funds to Fight AIDS

Facing uncertain government funding, AIDS advocates in Ventura County have launched an unparalleled campaign to raise private donations for groups working to stamp out the disease and care for those afflicted by it.

With the help of the Washington-based National AIDS Fund, the advocates have formed the Ventura Community AIDS Partnership with the goal of raising about $260,000 over the next two years.

The fund-raising effort was conceived late last year to drum up private support for local AIDS programs. Money generated by the countywide campaign will be matched by the National AIDS Fund and will be distributed, starting early next year, to local groups battling AIDS and HIV, the virus that causes the disease.

“I think we all realize that government funding is always very tenuous, at best,” said campaign coordinator Art McDermott, the HIV/AIDS coordinator for the United Way of Ventura County. “Really, the idea is to get the community to respond to this local community issue.”

The effort comes at a time when budget cuts threaten to derail federal funding to programs for people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and HIV. And it comes at a time when AIDS cases are rising, especially among minorities and women.

Last year, 96 new AIDS cases were reported to county health officials, a 20% increase over the previous year. Since 1985, about 700 Ventura County residents have been diagnosed with AIDS, and of those, about 470 have died.

Moreover, officials estimate there are between 900 and 1,200 HIV cases in the county.

The inexorable spread of the disease, coupled with an expectation that federal funding for AIDS programs could be cut by at least 10% next fiscal year, adds urgency to the fund-raising campaign, advocates say.

“The arrival on the scene of the Ventura Community AIDS Partnership could not be better timed,” said Doug Green, executive director of AIDS Care, a nonprofit group for people with HIV. “In order to just maintain the level of services in the county, we would have to go after more private dollars and ask the people of Ventura County and businesses in Ventura County to help out.”

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That’s where the new AIDS partnership comes in.

Ventura County is one of 35 communities nationwide selected to participate in the fund-raising initiative of the National AIDS Fund. This year, if the Ventura Community AIDS Partnership can raise $75,000, the national fund will give the local group $75,000. Officials at the national fund say an additional $25,000 will go toward administration.

And next year, if the AIDS partnership can raise another $75,000, the national group will contribute half that amount to the local campaign.

In total, the fund-raising campaign--administered jointly by United Way and the Ventura County Community Foundation--could generate about $260,000 for local efforts to fight the disease.

“Anyone who has worked with AIDS funding realizes that money ebbs and flows with the political tide,” said Kate McLean, president of the Ventura County Community Foundation. “We have an awful lot of energetic people who realize the importance of this issue and the importance of getting involved.”

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The AIDS partnership is in the process of selecting 20 people to serve on the new group’s advisory council. That council will guide the fledgling effort, deciding who to ask for money and what approach to take.

“This is an opportunity to bring more money into the community for AIDS-related services in a way that has never been done before,” said Dr. Gary Feldman, the county’s chief public health officer and a member of the advisory board. “My hope is that we will end up with more resources rather than just filling in behind federal cuts.”

That, too, is the hope of officials at the National AIDS Fund.

Ventura County is one of the smallest jurisdictions to be selected to participate in the fund-raising program, in part because it is viewed as a place where AIDS has not overrun the community and where much can still be done to battle the epidemic.

“In terms of reportable cases, our numbers appear to be small,” said Patricia Navarro of Simi Valley, whose son died of AIDS complications about five years ago. “But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. We know that there are many more people out there who have simply not been counted.”